Cold Facts Digital – The go-to place for Cryogenics and Superconductivity

A final answer on how high-temperature superconductors don’t work?

For decades, physicists have debated the origins of high-temperature superconductivity—the ability of some materials to carry electricity without resistance at temperatures up to 138 kelvin. Now, new data nix one possible explanation, albeit a less popular one, a team claims. If the finding holds up, it would sever any connection...

Leon M. Lederman receives 2012 Vannevar Bush Award

The National Science Board (NSB) announced on March 26 that Nobel laureate, Leon Lederman, is the 2012 recipient of its Vannevar Bush Award.

Copper-based materials show strange spin states

Just as water, ice, and steam are all phases of the same material that are influenced by temperature and pressure, new research shows how transitions of state work in very simple lattices primarily composed of copper.

Neutrons uncover new density waves in fermion liquids

Scientists working at the Institut Laue-Langevin, the world’s flagship center for neutron science, have carried out the first investigation of two-dimensional fermion liquids using neutron scattering, and discovered a new type of very short wave-length density wave.

Air Liquide and Astrium create EuroCryospace

Air Liquide and Astrium have announced the creation of EuroCryospace, the new European expansion of Cryospace, created nearly 25 years ago by both companies, for the development and production of Ariane cryogenic tanks.

MicroBooNE begins construction, elects co-spokesperson

Fermilab's neutrino experiment, MicroBooNE, is beginning the full construction phase for the detector, after DOE announced the official Critical Decision 3b approval on March 29.

Latest in Defining Cryogenics

Dilution Refrigerators

Dilution refrigerators are a common technique for reaching temperatures below 1K, particularly where continuous cooling at these temperatures is required. Helium exists in two stable isotopes: 4He and 3He. Naturally occurring 3He is extremely rare, constituting less than 1 part per million of helium gas. However, 3He can be manufactured,...

Oxygen Deficiency Hazards

Oxygen Deficiency Hazards (ODH) are a significant safety issue in cryogenic facilities. ODH occurs when inert gases such as nitrogen, helium or argon displace room air and thus lower the percentage of oxygen in the space below that required for human life. OSHA defines an area as oxygen deficient if...

Kelvin Temperature Scale

The Kelvin temperature scale is the principal temperature scale used in cryogenics and science. The kelvin is also one of the seven base units in the Système International d’Unités (SI) and is the unit of thermodynamic temperature. Thermodynamic temperature is a fundamental physical quantity (like mass, length or electrical current)...

Latest in Cryo Central

Air Separation and Liquefaction

by Nils Tellier, PE, President, EPSIM Corporation (CSA CSM) nils@epsim.us All illustrations courtesy EPSIM Corporation Background History of Air Separation and Liquefaction This section builds on a rich history of methods to develop deep refrigeration and cryogenic liquefaction during the 19th Century. You are encouraged to read Cryo Central’s History...

Bose-Einstein Condensate

A Bose-Einstein condensate, first proposed in 1925 by Albert Einstein based on work done by Satyendra Nath Bose (the same Bose from whom the term boson is derived), is a super-cold state of matter in which almost all of the individual atoms have “condensed” down to the lowest possible quantum...

Cold Technology for Pest Control

While it does not reach temperatures cold enough to be called cryogenic, carbon dioxide snow is at the heart of a new way of dealing with unwanted pests. It utilizes a quick freezing process that takes advantage of the properties of carbon dioxide snow and has a number of benefits...

Cryogenic Finishing

The following 3 articles discuss the uses and procedures of various type of cryogenic finishing. 1) By Robin A. Rhodes, Cryogenic Institute of New England, Inc. rrhodes@nitrofreeze.com Cryogenic Deflashing is employed to remove undesired residual mold flash that remains on molded parts after they are removed or ejected from the...

Latest in Ask the Experts

Power requirement to liquefy hydrogen gas?

What is the power requirement to liquefy hydrogen gas?

Effect of cryogenic freezing on tone of bell?

I have been making bells for a few years out of Bell Bronze, 87% Copper. Would cryogenic freezing have any effect on the tone of a bell if I had it treated after casting? Your help would be appreciated.

Thermal conductivity of niobium, tantalum, lead, tin

I am interested in the thermal conductivity and other properties of low temperature superconductors. Specifically I am interested in materials like Niobium, Tantalum, Lead and Tin. Would you know of a publication that dealt with thermal properties in general and also gave specific data on these materials?

Could boxes of paper records be freeze-dried?

In the event of a disaster such as a flood, could boxes of paper records be freeze-dried? Could cryogenics help in the recovery efforts?

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